Recruiting Tips for Parents Just Starting the Process

[Zoro]

A soccer scholarship is a job that pays tax-free - whatever it pays. But it is a job.
It may affect classes they take, it may affect social life while also providing a platform of security and friends.
All colleges are different, but if they are giving you money - they expect something.

 

[Zoro]

If you are using soccer as a tool for school, it is the most important activity your kid does. It is more important than any AP class, or any homework. Elite colleges will accept a student with a B, or maybe a C (and explanation) who is also the athlete they want over a straight A 4.0 (>4.0 is not the measure used by any elite college) who they don't want.

 

[Multi Sport]

If you are using soccer as a tool for school, it is the most important activity your kid does. It is more important than any AP class, or any homework. Elite colleges will accept a student with a B, or maybe a C (and explanation) who is also the athlete they want over a straight A 4.0 (>4.0 is not the measure used by any elite college) who they don't want.

So right. That's why you need to sit down with your kid and discuss what their plans are after college. If they want to be a coach or maybe play professionally then the school they choose will be different then someone who wants to earn an engineering degree. One of the first questions my daughter wanted to know was what is the graduation rate and GPAs of the schools student athletes.

 

[Zoro]

Simple...focus on education. Bad grades equal no scholarship. Your kid should at least be a high school "B" student and get decent SAT/ACT scores.

Yes. Don't be bad. But even SAT 800 in math was reported only a 40% chance of entrance to Dartmouth.
If they are a B student - focus on being recruit-able. A sport is a 1 GPA point and coach trump card for getting your kid in. I'm keeping money out of this.

A recruit-able athlete has no such issues getting into any school where they meet the bar. While someone with "nothing special" in the 90th percentile likely won't make it. There are huge opportunities based on being a minority (black), but other than that it needs to be something else. Sports work.

 

[Zoro]

There is "virtually" no such thing as money for academics at elite (1%ish) colleges, but there is for sports.
Or - doubt any soccer play has ever received money for academic achievement at those elite colleges soccer could get them into.

If you are shooting for one of those colleges grades, test scores more, will only help you get in.
NCAA Sports will help you get in and possibly get money.

 

[Zoro]

If your family has demonstrated financial need or are an ethnic background that gets financial aide you stand a lower chance of getting soccer money than if not.

 

[pooka]

Yes. Don't be bad. But even SAT 800 in math was reported only a 40% chance of entrance to Dartmouth.
If they are a B student - focus on being recruit-able. A sport is a 1 GPA point and coach trump card for getting your kid in. I'm keeping money out of this.

A recruit-able athlete has no such issues getting into any school where they meet the bar. While someone with "nothing special" in the 90th percentile likely won't make it. There are huge opportunities based on being a minority (black), but other than that it needs to be something else. Sports work.

I was with you until you got to "huge opportunities" for being black. I don' know why folks continue to believe that being black is an automatic ticket into any school you want. You can even look at the recent affirmative action case of the mediocre chick that wanted to get into UT... of the 40 some people with the same mediocre grades that got in instead of her, only 6 were black. the other 34 or so were white.

I'd love to know where these huge opportunities are. Stop believing the hype.

 

[Surfref]

I posted this on another thread, but there are parts that apply to this thread. The other thread was about club development vs trophies.

Who really gives a crap which club supposedly develops or gets the most trophies. It took more than just my DD's club to get her to the level that she was given a substantial soccer scholarship and is now in her second year of college soccer. In all actuality, her clubs emphasized the boys program and did not really support the girls even though the girls were more successful. My DD did the majority of her development (skills) working with a trainer such as Juaquin Huerta, Jen Lalor and The Catalyst a Training Center in San Diego. Game tactics primarily came from watching a ton of soccer on TV and talking to me about the games and player tactics, and two great coaches, Jen Lalor (US National team player) and Gus D. She trained with Jen long before she played for her. Jen is now an assistant coach for the US youth national teams. It takes motivation by the player to want to get better and make it to that next level. She started college workouts and tryouts last Monday. The players went into the gym on Wednesday to do some weight work and a third of the girls could not do one pull-up, bench press the bar (45 lbs) or squat the bar. Most of them had never done any weight work or gym work. DD 5'2" knocked out 18 pull-ups (I can't do that and most of you can't), 150 lbs bench press and 200 lbs squat and still ran the 40 in 5 seconds. Does your kids coach have them do weight training and teach them proper techniques? Probably not. This is part of development. Does your kids coach teach them proper running and sprinting mechanics which will make them considerably faster on the field? Probably not which is part of development. Does your kids coach constantly yell direction to them or let your kid work it out on the field and talk to them when they come out of the game? Most coaches constantly give direction. Don't forget, I am a referee and have to listen to 90 percent of coaches, even at U19, constantly yell instructions to the players. Development is not a singular entity that s controlled by a coach or club but is a team effort from the coach, club, trainer, parents, and player. IMHO the coach has about a 25 percent influence on the players development. Trainers (good ones) make up 50 percent. The player and parent, yes the parents, make up the other 25 percent. Soccer is a very mental game and if the player is not focused, motivated, and goal driven, all the skill in the world will get them to the next level.

So, find an outstanding trainer ( 1-on-1 and 3-on-1 training) and a decent coach. But, most of all make sure your kid's head is in the game and actually wants to put in the physical and mental work. Also, make sure your kid knows how to and does lift weights. Last year one of my DD teammates dropped the weight lifting bar on her chest and broke 5 ribs. Soccer is more than just a few passes and shots on the field, but a game that demands great levels of both physical and mental preparation.

DD remembers who she played and how the game went for every trophy and medal going back to U10 AYSO. So, those $5 medals do mean something to the motivated players.

 

[Zoro]

I was with you until you got to "huge opportunities" for being black. I don' know why folks continue to believe that being black is an automatic ticket into any school you want. You can even look at the recent affirmative action case of the mediocre chick that wanted to get into UT... of the 40 some people with the same mediocre grades that got in instead of her, only 6 were black. the other 34 or so were white.

I'd love to know where these huge opportunities are. Stop believing the hype.

Here is one that pertained to us (so I saved it). The difference was about $400K in earnings for us (pre tax money to pay full tuition 5 years). My daughter is in school of architecture at ND. When looking for architecture the best we found was being a soccer player, or being African American. I was also looking for my niece who is black and also wanted architecture.

 

[Zoro]

Learn about the Common Data Set and know the 25th percentile (section C9) for each school you look at. Acceptance rate and 25th percentile (ability) often do not correlate. There are many schools with higher acceptance rates and higher test scores than schools with lower ones. It has to do with a bunch of factors, location and NCAA sports. You will see many schools with big football programs will have a rather large range from 25%-75%, while non-sporty schools have a smaller band. Traditionally the Ivys and a few other don't dip as low for the athletes that bring in revenue, but most do.

If you are using soccer and the school is big into football - that 25%+ is a good place to be. If the school does not seem to dip for athletes your kid can be below that - and get in with soccer.

As an example (on the old site I had 25 links) SAT are 25th percentile
Stanford CDS http://ucomm.stanford.edu/cds/2015 ACT 31 SAT 690/700
UCLA http://www.aim.ucla.edu/profiles/cds2.aspx ACT 25 SAT 570/600
Caltech for fun (no revenue FB team) http://finance.caltech.edu/documents/394-cds2015_final.pdf ACT 34 SAT 730/770
UC Irvine (no revenue FB team) http://www.oir.uci.edu/files/campus/CDS2015_16.pdf ACT (they don't do it) SAT 490/550
Pepperdine (no revenue FB team) http://oie.pepperdine.edu/content/public/Data Warehouse/Common Data Set/CDS 2015-2016.pdf ACT 25 SAT 550/550
Harvard say they don't dip lower for sports http://oir.harvard.edu/files/huoir/files/harvard_cds_2014-15.pdf ACT 32 700/710

 

[Zoro]

Not all programs are fully funded. Of course soccer is used by parents to pay for school as well as get in, but the schools have to fund sports programs. Not every NCAA sport gets tuition paid for up to the scholarship limit. Football helps pay for soccer, but a school without a big revenue sport needs to get that money elsewhere. That may affect what coaches can offer.

 

[Zoro]

Schools like to see the kid take the toughest courses available. At some big high schools that may be AP/IB and very competitive. At a smaller school that may be Honors. Many high schools inflate grade GPAs and some go the other way where an A- in AP is not a 5.0.
Be prepared to both explain that on an app AND consider going to a less competitive school and getting an A vs the big school AP and getting a B.

An explained C can be fine. More on that later if I have not mentioned already.

 

[Legendary FC]

I posted this on another thread, but there are parts that apply to this thread. The other thread was about club development vs trophies.

Who really gives a crap which club supposedly develops or gets the most trophies. It took more than just my DD's club to get her to the level that she was given a substantial soccer scholarship and is now in her second year of college soccer. In all actuality, her clubs emphasized the boys program and did not really support the girls even though the girls were more successful. My DD did the majority of her development (skills) working with a trainer such as Juaquin Huerta, Jen Lalor and The Catalyst a Training Center in San Diego. Game tactics primarily came from watching a ton of soccer on TV and talking to me about the games and player tactics, and two great coaches, Jen Lalor (US National team player) and Gus D. She trained with Jen long before she played for her. Jen is now an assistant coach for the US youth national teams. It takes motivation by the player to want to get better and make it to that next level. She started college workouts and tryouts last Monday. The players went into the gym on Wednesday to do some weight work and a third of the girls could not do one pull-up, bench press the bar (45 lbs) or squat the bar. Most of them had never done any weight work or gym work. DD 5'2" knocked out 18 pull-ups (I can't do that and most of you can't), 150 lbs bench press and 200 lbs squat and still ran the 40 in 5 seconds. Does your kids coach have them do weight training and teach them proper techniques? Probably not. This is part of development. Does your kids coach teach them proper running and sprinting mechanics which will make them considerably faster on the field? Probably not which is part of development. Does your kids coach constantly yell direction to them or let your kid work it out on the field and talk to them when they come out of the game? Most coaches constantly give direction. Don't forget, I am a referee and have to listen to 90 percent of coaches, even at U19, constantly yell instructions to the players. Development is not a singular entity that s controlled by a coach or club but is a team effort from the coach, club, trainer, parents, and player. IMHO the coach has about a 25 percent influence on the players development. Trainers (good ones) make up 50 percent. The player and parent, yes the parents, make up the other 25 percent. Soccer is a very mental game and if the player is not focused, motivated, and goal driven, all the skill in the world will get them to the next level.

So, find an outstanding trainer ( 1-on-1 and 3-on-1 training) and a decent coach. But, most of all make sure your kid's head is in the game and actually wants to put in the physical and mental work. Also, make sure your kid knows how to and does lift weights. Last year one of my DD teammates dropped the weight lifting bar on her chest and broke 5 ribs. Soccer is more than just a few passes and shots on the field, but a game that demands great levels of both physical and mental preparation.

DD remembers who she played and how the game went for every trophy and medal going back to U10 AYSO. So, those $5 medals do mean something to the motivated players.

I agree with some of what you said. I don't agree that a player has to be big into weights during their youth career. If we were talking football or wrestling then yeah the weight room is a must in high school. For girls soccer I think a good college strength and conditioning program is plenty.

 

[Surfref]

I agree with some of what you said. I don't agree that a player has to be big into weights during their youth career. If we were talking football or wrestling then yeah the weight room is a must in high school. For girls soccer I think a good college strength and conditioning program is plenty.

I am not saying they need to be Olympic weight lifters, but they do need to know their way around the gym and at least know how to properly do basic weight lifting. Most college players are in the gym doing some type of weight work several times a week. My DD started practices last Monday and the Freshmen are getting a good dose of the physicality and strength of college players. They should at least be able to bench press, squat, etc. just the bar (45lbs) with no weights on it. DD was shocked that half of the Freshmen this year could not lift the bar doing bench presses. My DD was lucky when she went in as a Freshman because she had had a trainer that her doing weight work and taught her proper technique. They should also be doing a ton of crunches/core strength workouts several times a week if not daily. College soccer is like having a 25-40 hour a week job depending on the program. DD spends 4-7 hours a day with practices, classroom and speed/endurance/weight training.

 

[Zoro]

I think this is primarily sleep/lack of it, but it is common, even for elite athletes to gain weight.
Colleges seem to be just bigger / better high schools when it comes to training, and train in groups. Most I see train too much and sleep to little and get sloppy on diet. SoCal Blues put together a G19 team of post freshman college players and most the parents shared the same opinion. The Freshman 15 (lbs). But as the team and players were so good, it was hard to tell if it mattered or not, or even made them better.

I still don't think colleges are as good as what a kid can do with a trainer / coach that provides individual attention.

 

[espola]

I am not saying they need to be Olympic weight lifters, but they do need to know their way around the gym and at least know how to properly do basic weight lifting. Most college players are in the gym doing some type of weight work several times a week. My DD started practices last Monday and the Freshmen are getting a good dose of the physicality and strength of college players. They should at least be able to bench press, squat, etc. just the bar (45lbs) with no weights on it. DD was shocked that half of the Freshmen this year could not lift the bar doing bench presses. My DD was lucky when she went in as a Freshman because she had had a trainer that her doing weight work and taught her proper technique. They should also be doing a ton of crunches/core strength workouts several times a week if not daily. College soccer is like having a 25-40 hour a week job depending on the program. DD spends 4-7 hours a day with practices, classroom and speed/endurance/weight training.

Please post a link to a game schedule so your fans (and thus her fans) can follow along this season.

 

[Legendary FC]

I am not saying they need to be Olympic weight lifters, but they do need to know their way around the gym and at least know how to properly do basic weight lifting. Most college players are in the gym doing some type of weight work several times a week. My DD started practices last Monday and the Freshmen are getting a good dose of the physicality and strength of college players. They should at least be able to bench press, squat, etc. just the bar (45lbs) with no weights on it. DD was shocked that half of the Freshmen this year could not lift the bar doing bench presses. My DD was lucky when she went in as a Freshman because she had had a trainer that her doing weight work and taught her proper technique. They should also be doing a ton of crunches/core strength workouts several times a week if not daily. College soccer is like having a 25-40 hour a week job depending on the program. DD spends 4-7 hours a day with practices, classroom and speed/endurance/weight training.

I understand that. Mine is in her summer workout program that has them doing 3 days of weights, 4 days of conditioning and a kick around with the captains 4 days a week. She hasn't really had any trouble with the physicality but she is about 5'9 150 lbs and is one of the bigger girls on the team. I agree that weight training is important. It just isn't the end of the world if they didn't get started until their senior year of high school or freshman year of college.

 

[Zoro]

I found me (parent) calling the coach worked out well. It was "Hi, my daughter is a SoCal Blues GK and interested in playing for your school and before she gets us into something that costs a lot I wanted to know what positions you had....".

(We actually used Captain U to see when there was a bite and then send video with a unique link. When it was viewed I'd make the call.)

This is a bit different than the popular - they want the kids to call (which is very difficult for a 15/16 year old). And was by a parent asking parent stuff up front, the calls could be teed up. This worked well, along with Captain U and we spoke with every coach she wanted. That was about 5 top 10 schools at the time and an Ivy she liked. Some of those connections came from camps, but my point is - Parent calls first to do a business qualification.

I found the same true for my son (not soccer, not NCAA sport). I could call and connect with the coach and qualify. This worked for every place we looked at.

Coaches share the same interest parents do. They don't want to waste time.

 

[Zoro]

...
An explained C can be fine. More on that later if I have not mentioned already.

My son got a C- in pre-calc from a "bad" teacher start of sophomore year.
In 10th spring a 10 grade very strict chem teacher. He got invited by USA cycling to race in Europe - and he would need to miss class.
He got a C in that class and it correlated with his time out of country. We also left the HS and went to online because of that ( we think online is less competitive than a big HS). We also kept him in 4 years of independent PE so he could train for cycling and take fewer hard classes and keep it to 2-3 AP classes.

So his transcript looked like he jumped around (he did) and got a C in an important class. As his other later grades were good, that gave an opportunity for explanation. And a story about following passion...yada yada the whole out-of-the-box thing which they eat up these days, which was also true.
Coaches and admin though it was a good story and we think overlooked the C- from the (10th grade) fall before. He ended up with as many/more doors open than DD (the soccer player). We think it was the true story about his passion and focus that made that difference.

 

[MakeAPlay]

I found me (parent) calling the coach worked out well. It was "Hi, my daughter is a SoCal Blues GK and interested in playing for your school and before she gets us into something that costs a lot I wanted to know what positions you had....".

(We actually used Captain U to see when there was a bite and then send video with a unique link. When it was viewed I'd make the call.)

This is a bit different than the popular - they want the kids to call (which is very difficult for a 15/16 year old). And was by a parent asking parent stuff up front, the calls could be teed up. This worked well, along with Captain U and we spoke with every coach she wanted. That was about 5 top 10 schools at the time and an Ivy she liked. Some of those connections came from camps, but my point is - Parent calls first to do a business qualification.

I found the same true for my son (not soccer, not NCAA sport). I could call and connect with the coach and qualify. This worked for every place we looked at.

Coaches share the same interest parents do. They don't want to waste time.

My daughter's experience was very different. The only real talking that her father or I did was on her unofficial visits and when we were talking money. We helped her with the questions to ask and what to put into emails but we made her own the process herself. She didn't have a huge list of schools that she was interested in so it made the process a little easier.